What is the Full in Your Mind?

With all that has been happening in the past year, a lot of effort to clear the mind has been put forward. Fatigue, depression, and anxiety are terms that have been more normalized, which in turn would cause these levels to decrease. It only takes a few minutes to determine how much of us has been taken captive by these offenders. Let’s think a bit.

In the middle of figuring things out, right after we get news or while processing them, we don’t really prioritize our insides because we are trying to save our outside. We are basically trying to survive whatever catastrophe came tumbling to our door. The issue is that we are only meant to be in the mentality of survival for a short period of time. Our body isn’t meant to have high levels of stress for long bouts. Think of a machine that you have working at high capacity all day long. It won’t last but a few hours, if any.

The other side of this is the effects that come from the stress. We might have come out unscathed or completely transformed from a nerve-wrecking situation, but the experience itself leaves a mark and we might now be analyzing everything through it; it doesn’t matter that there are no signs of food shortage; we shall never throw away a scrap or have less than an overly full pantry. We have been freed from the circumstance but our mind hasn’t.

We bounce between those two worlds constantly because life is a journey, not a destination. If we aren’t going through a tough time, we have just come out of one and now evaluate our life based on our learnings or traumas. Defining life only as either in stress or about to get into it, gives it a very bleak look. Thankfully, there is much more to it than stress. In the midst of issues or thoughts from them, we see firsthand how strong we are. People offer their hand in kindness, or show you how the relationship wasn’t as close as you might have thought. We learn about new skills we had no idea we had. We also gain experience that we can share and provide as support to others.

in order for us to see the bright side of the coin, we need to make the effort to look for it. We need to be mindful, versus have our mind full. Opposite from the constant jump from one challenge to the other, we gravitate towards always having our minds full. We rack our brain for solutions and ideas on how to move past this uncomfortable situation. Yet, when we start being mindful about where we are, bringing in perspective and realizing the support and opportunities around us, we actually leave room for the thinking we need to do. Having a full mind feeds the stress, while being mindful allows us to use our resources in a smarter way, and reduces the stress.

When stressed, step out of your shoes to breathe and get a better view of the situation. It will be hard and take practice, but once you start, you will be more intentional about your thoughts during tough times and the aftermath.